I’ve been cramming to make a deadline all week, much of it spent out of town reporting, but here’s a quick preview of bloggings to come:
First, those in the NYC area should make it to the Blue Note at least one night this coming week, as Charlie Haden plays duets with various pianists: Kenny Barron on Tuesday, Ethan Iverson (of The Bad Plus) on Wednesday, Paul Bley on Thursday, and Brad Mehldau from Friday through Sunday. Haden, of course, was the bassist in Ornette Coleman’s original quartet and has ever since been spinning that “harmolodic” magic whereby a musician plays around the chords and rhythms of a song yet somehow manages to convey its essence more intensely and lyrically than nearly anyone who hits them spot-on. Haden led a similar festival at the same club five years ago, in celebration of his 65th birthday, and every set—or each of the four I saw—was at least pleasurable, at best breathtaking. Some of his greatest albums in recent years have also been piano-bass duos: Night and the City with Barron, Steal Away with Hank Jones, The Montreal Tapes with Geri Allen (well, the last one also had Paul Motian on drums, but who’s counting…). Anyway, go!
Second, here are some new or forthcoming CDs that I’ve liked to hear spinning in the background or during quick meal breaks (I’ll write more when I have a chance to take a close listen):
The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra’s long-awaited Sky Blue (lush, plush, dreamy, with edgy solos this time, and spectacular sonics by engineer Joe Ferla)…
Erik Friedlander’s solo-cello elegies, Block Ice and Propane (haunting Americana, a soundtrack of road shows and memory, like Copland with occasional shards of Crumb)…
A Columbia 6-CD box-set of Miles Davis’ Complete ‘On the Corner’ Sessions (wowie! zowie! who knew!)…
More soon…
